Childhood: Memories of the Museum

Dick Vane-Wright

An illustrated book about countryside walks made Dick curious to find for himself the common butterflies that dotted the pages. Upon finding these species, he would bring them into the Museum's Identification and Advisory Service for classification.

He later joined the Museum's Entomology Department, and has conducted fieldwork all over the world, including western Africa, where he collected over one million specimens. Though he retired from the Museum in 2004, Dick ever since enjoyed returning to the Museum. Enthralled by the orderliness of nature, Dick has marvelled over the diversity of species exhibited in the Museum's galleries and their ability to translate complex information into something tangible and appealing to a wide audience.